Exam question 2 · Thinking cleverly about people

Identify the reason for which the arrangement «one cuts, the other chooses» tends to produce fair shares.

Mova's choice: option 4 · The right answer: option 4 · right ✓ · Who acts: you, arrangement, other chooses · What happens: identify, cut, tend, produce · To what, where: reason, fair shares · Speech: someone speaks here

This is exam question 2 of lesson 60 «Thinking cleverly about people» of the everyday course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	10 cuts	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 arrangement	det
7	arrangement	arrangement	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 cuts	nsubj
8	«	«	PUNCT	_	10 cuts	punct
9	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 cuts	nsubj
10	cuts	cut	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 reason	acl
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	14 chooses	punct
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	14 chooses	det
13	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 chooses	amod
14	chooses	chooses	NOUN	Number=Sing	16 tends	nsubj
15	»	»	PUNCT	_	14 chooses	punct
16	tends	tend	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	10 cuts	parataxis
17	to	to	PART	_	18 produce	mark
18	produce	produce	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	16 tends	xcomp
19	fair	fair	ADJ	Degree=Pos	20 shares	amod
20	shares	share	NOUN	Number=Plur	18 produce	obj
21	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the reason		vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent reason=Theme
2	cut in a quote	present	the arrangement		for the reason	tree rules
3	tend	present	the other chooses			tree rules
4	produce	to-infinitive	the other chooses not said here	fair shares		vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent share=Result

One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

The options

Option 1

The person choosing always takes the smaller piece

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 person	det
2	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 takes	nsubj
3	choosing	choose	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 person	acl
4	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	3 choosing	advmod
5	takes	take	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 piece	det
7	smaller	small	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	8 piece	amod
8	piece	piece	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 takes	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	choose	gerund	the person not said here					always property	vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
2	take	present	the person	the smaller piece					vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent piece=Theme

Option 2

The pieces are subsequently weighed on a scale

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 pieces	det
2	pieces	piece	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 weighed	nsubj:pass
3	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 weighed	aux:pass
4	subsequently	subsequently	ADV	_	5 weighed	advmod
5	weighed	weigh	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	on	on	ADP	_	8 scale	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 scale	det
8	scale	scale	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 weighed	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	weigh	present · passive		the pieces		a scale		subsequently property	vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: subject=Value

Option 3

The cutting is invariably carried out by an adult

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 cutting	det
2	cutting	cutting	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 carried	nsubj:pass
3	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 carried	aux:pass
4	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	5 carried	advmod
5	carried	carry	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
6	out	out	ADP	_	5 carried	compound:prt
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 adult	case
8	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 adult	det
9	adult	adult	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 carried	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	carry out	present · passive	a adult	the cutting				invariably property	vn act-114 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Eventuality

Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer

The person cutting has a reason to cut fairly

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 cutting	det
2	person	person	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 cutting	compound
3	cutting	cutting	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 has	nsubj
4	has	have	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 reason	det
6	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 has	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 cut	mark
8	cut	cut	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 reason	acl
9	fairly	fairly	ADV	_	8 cut	advmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	have	present	the person cutting	a reason					vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Patient
2	cut	to-infinitive	the person cutting not said here	a reason not said here				fairly property	vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer

Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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